A new series from the Guardian is delving into the newspaper's vast archives to uncover the humble and often surprising first mentions of today's pop culture titans. The feature, titled 'Origin Stories', launched in the publication's weekly newsletter, The Guide, and promises a regular look back at the faltering first steps of the famous.
From Coffee Clubs to Global Fame
The inaugural edition reveals some remarkably understated beginnings. The Beatles first graced the Guardian's pages not with a fanfare, but in a January 1963 article about Manchester's 'coffee dance clubs'. The piece casually notes that such venues featured "twist or jazz groups, the Beatles for instance". This fleeting reference appeared just as Please Please Me was climbing the charts, mere months before full-blown Beatlemania erupted.
Similarly, Marilyn Monroe received a lukewarm initial reception. An early 1950s review of Don't Bother to Knock found the film "does not succeed in ending up as anything very special". A later review for Niagara suggested she was better suited to "little roles". It wasn't until 1959's Some Like It Hot that the paper finally described her as "irresistible".
Television and Tech First Impressions
The archives also hold the first reactions to now-institutions. In October 1984, the Guardian previewed a new BBC soap, predicting Albert Square in EastEnders would become "as familiar a national landmark as Coronation Street". The opening night review four months later was cautiously positive, calling it "Coronation Street with added abrasives and a cockney accent".
Perhaps the most dismissive early mention was reserved for Nintendo. In 1980, a tech column sniffed at the "puerile video games" and described the company's new Game & Watch device as the "next inevitable advance". By 1984, coverage had shifted to reporting on plagiarism in the gaming industry, name-checking Nintendo's Donkey Kong and its many imitators like Kongo Kong and Donkey King.
The Original Fashion Icon
The series saves its most charming discovery for last. Long before her reign on Strictly Come Dancing or The Traitors, Claudia Winkleman made her Guardian debut not in the 1990s, but as a toddler. She appeared in a 1973 photoshoot for a feature on children's fashion. The young Winkleman modelled an embroidered Indian smock and stripy bell-bottom trousers, described in the article as perfect for "small-fry fashion". Her now-signature severe fringe and fingerless gloves were, however, still years away.
The 'Origin Stories' feature will continue to mine the Guardian's 200-year archive, offering a unique lens on the moments before fame was cemented. It highlights how cultural seismographs often register only the faintest tremor before the quake of superstardom hits.
